What makes SE’s tick?

They’ll never admit it but most SEs love to be seen as the hero. But it’s not the search for fame that drives them but rather the commitment to customer success and desire to be experts in their own way. Companies like Cisco hire smart people with a strong customer orientation then back that up with extensive certification training. Dan Hodges, founder of Toolwire, a Cisco certification labs delivery company for thousands of Cisco field engineers, sums it up nicely saying “SEs are the customer's hero and trusted partner. They will even shield customers from bad solutions which can sometimes be their own.” It’s also important to appreciate that SEs are way overworked. They generally support 4-8 sales reps and must know multiple complex product lines as well as live a life of brutal travel and relentless customer driven deadlines. So they will appreciate any productivity aid.

What should be your objectives in building the SE relationship?

Your #1 objective is to enable your channel partner’s SE to support your partner’s sales effort from qualification to PO phase. That means making it easier and quicker for them to sell your product than any other products in their portfolio. Secondly, entice them to deepen their technical expertise and become certified to deploy your solution. Most SEs are very committed to growing their expertise and see certifications as a badge of honor. Certified Cisco professionals even compare their certification number because great reverence goes to those with a low number (among the first).

What are best practices in developing SE effectiveness and loyalty?

Relationship – Get to know them personally maybe by starting out with lunch/coffee and inviting them to customer visits that you’ve setup. Be sure to use these face to face meetings to get to know them personally, their metrics, their pain points, their areas of expertise, their aspirations, their client base, their scorecard, etc.). Ritesh Patel, Director of Services for a managed services company says “treat them like your customer because they are.”

Training - Encourage them to attend formal product training which includes hands-on labs with the software/appliance and vivid customer case studies. Couple this with some on-the-job training by having them shadow you on a demo setup or customer install. Show them how quickly they can come up to speed and be credible with customers.

Tools - Give them a tools library (customer case studies, slide pitch, flash demo, evaluation software, FAQ, sales guide, competitive data, etc.) easily accessible via the secure web login. Chances are that your partner sales rep won’t read any of this material but will just punt to the SE who will need to do so in a crash course the night before the customer visit.

Communications – React quickly to their calls and communicate proactively at least weekly via phone or in person. Touch your partner SE with monthly email newsletters (e.g. customer wins, customer deployment tips, best practices, news, etc.). Setup SE meetings co-located with industry trade show (e.g. RSA, Cisco NAC, etc.). Host monthly webcasts just for SEs which highlight content that would be of great interest to their customer base. For example, focus on customer issues/opportunities rather than your product features. And encourage word of mouth by making your assigned SE a showcase for success.

So, in summary, the best way for you to build successful relationships with SEs is to help them achieve their two most important commitments—to their customer success and to developing their professional expertise. You can do this by following the best practices in the areas of relationship building, training, tools, and communication. I assure you that if you follow these practices your SEs will notice a big difference in helping them be heroes. And that is always good for your business.